The turnaround at Sapey Golf Club

Last summer the Worcestershire club announced it was to close. With just a few days left, it was rescued – and it has since seen half a million pounds of investment.

It has been an extraordinary few months at Sapey Golf and Country Club in Worcestershire. The club had announced it was to shut down only for it to be purchased and saved by Wyldecrest Parks days later last July. And since then the chairman and CEO of Wyldecrest Parks, Alfie Best, unveiled a £500,000 investment package in the facility.

“It is six months since the course was saved from the clutches of closure in the summer and improvements are now coming think and fast,” said Cheryl Waring, the club’s sales and marketing manager, last month.

The club has a new fleet of golf buggies and major works on the course ponds have been completed, with the waterfalls flowing for the first time in more than five years. The two courses have also undergone work to their irrigation systems.

During autumn there was a buzz of activity around the course and clubhouse with a new lodge development breaking ground and tonnes of concrete arriving to provide the footings. The new lodges are right on the edge of the club’s nine-hole, par three Oaks Course, enjoying superb views across the Herefordshire / Worcestershire border and it is anticipated that they will be ready to accept bookings for golfing holidays as early as spring.

Alfie Best said: “One of our first tasks was to put the infrastructure in place to run the club profitably. We have installed new IT and security systems, taken delivery of brand new golf buggies and started building three golf lodges. We have met with architects and are confirming our preferred options for new leisure facilities, extension of the clubhouse balcony and installation of the new swing simulator. Sapey is beautiful and I plan to make it the best club in the area.”

General manager and PGA professional, Chris Knowles, added: ”There are exciting times ahead with a new swing simulator being installed this winter and a leisure complex with swimming pool and gym planned for the end of 2018. We are looking to attract more families to Sapey and secure the club’s future for its members and the local community.

“No two days are the same at the moment. Our membership is growing and we are looking forward to the many changes that 2018 will bring. We have already welcomed many of the residents from Saltmarshe, just three miles away, who have been enjoying our clubhouse facilities and the Wyldecrest membership card arrives to residents soon, entitling all holders to 20 per cent off at our bar and restaurant and 50 per cent off golf memberships.”